PROPERTY experts have given a mixed reaction to the coalition Government’s plan to scrap Home Information Packs.

Estate agents welcomed the move to abolish HIPS but one specialist provider believes it is a short-sighted move that could cause hundreds of job losses.

Tom Claridge, co-founder of Botley-based Key Hips in 2007, said: “It is a huge concern for us as HIPS are our primary business.

“When the chancellor George Osborne sits down and works out how much it is going to cost and how many people will be made unemployed, I struggle to understand how they can go ahead with it.” Key Hips, which won the New Business category of the Oxfordshire Business Awards last year, employs 25 staff and Mr Courage said redundancies could not be ruled out.

But estate agents claimed the packs, which cost up to £350, deterred people from putting their home on the market.

Mark Charter, head of residential sales at the Summertown office of Carter Jonas, said: "Abolishing HIPs is welcome news because they place an unnecessary burden on the process of selling a house. We hope the Government makes this move quickly.”